Gospel: Luke 4:16-30
Jesus came to
Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the
synagogue on the sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of
the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was
written:
The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the
Lord.
Rolling up the
scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down, and the eyes of all in
the synagogue looked intently at him. He said to them, “Today this Scripture
passage is fulfilled in your hearing.” And all spoke highly of him and were
amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They also asked, “Is
this not the son of Joseph?” He said to them, “Surely you will quote me this
proverb, ‘Physician, cure yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your native place the
things that we heard were done in Capernaum.’” And he said, “Amen, I say to
you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place. Indeed, I tell you, there
were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for
three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land.
It was to none of
these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of
Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the
prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When
the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They
rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on
which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed
through the midst of them and went away.
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Reflection:
Homecoming is always
an event that we look forward to because of the warmth of the reception that we
receive from our relatives and friends. Take for example if you’ve not been to
your childhood place for a number of years. Just imagine the warm welcome that
you’ll receive from your relatives and childhood friends. But not all
homecoming are filled with warmth and welcoming people there are sad
homecomings also.
Jesus was initially
admired and was warmly received by His town mates for He spoke with brilliance.
But when He spoke of something that His town mates did not like to hear the
admiration turned to derision and the warm reception became cold as ice. This led His town mates to drive Him away with
dangerous intentions going to a hill. What a sad ending of His coming home,
Jesus certainly did not expect this kind of sad homecoming.
But this is the
reality of life, people will like us for as long as they like what we say even
if what we say is already false for as long as its music to their ears. But
when we talk about the truth they will not like us anymore. They will also
drive us away as if we are carrying a contagious disease. And the worst part is they may attempt to
harm us.
